SANSAD news-release April 13, 2020
Grant Immediate Bail to Anand Teltumbde and Jailed Human Rights Defenders
South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy (SANSAD), an organization of the South Asian Diaspora in Vancouver, Canada is shocked by and condemns the Supreme Court of India ‘s rejection of anticipatory bail to prominent public intellectuals, authors, and human rights defenders, Anand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha and ordering them surrender to the authorities for incarceration on April 14 during a nation-wide lockdown for Covid-19. With their surrender they will join nine other prominent writers, human rights activists, and lawyers who have been held in jails for close to two years under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act without trial in a process that itself constitutes punishment. It is a disgrace that Dr. Teltumbde, one of the leading Ambedkarite intellectuals of India will be sent to prison on 14 April which is the 129th birth anniversary of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, who presided over the creation of the constitution of India.
What makes this travesty of justice particularly inhumane is the crisis India currently faces with the rest of the world during the Covid-19 pandemic. At a time when there is concern for the health of all who are in prisons everywhere the highest court in India has no compunction in sending two of its most prominent intellectuals to prison. To fully appreciate what this means for the system of justice in India one has to remember that prominent leaders of the ruling political party publicly utter hate speech calling for violence against minorities with impunity and people arrested for violent crimes have no difficulty obtaining bail. At the same time a paraplegic like Professor G. N. Saibaba, with severe health problems, can be held in jail indefinitely for alleged sympathies with Maoists.
India’s democracy with all its limitations depends on its constitutional guarantee of certain rights, including the right of dissent. The Supreme Court is the custodian of the constitution, and as such its credibility is of the utmost importance. The current compromised state of justice and the Supreme Court offers the Indian people no security. We demand that the Supreme Court of India resume its credibility by immediately granting bail to Anand Teltumbde, Gautam Navlakha, the nine others who have been in prison since 2018 on similar charges related to the incidents of violence in Bhima Koregaon in January 2018, Professor G. N. Saibaba, and all other political prisoners.
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